The vast majority of Europeans support the use of artificial intelligence for police and military operations, according to a new report by Madrid’s IE University shared with CNBC.
“European Tech Insights,” which measured the attitudes of over 3,000 people in Europe, found that 75% support the use of AI technologies such as facial recognition and biometric data by the police and military for surveillance purposes.
The extent of the support is perhaps surprising, as Europe holds some of the strictest data privacy regulations in the world. In 2018, the European Union introduced the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR — a framework that governs the way organizations store and process users’ information.
Firms face hefty fines for violating the rules. A company in breach of GDPR laws can be fined up to 4% of their annual global revenues, or 20 million euros ($21.7 million), whichever is the higher amount.
“It is not clear that the public has thought about the ramifications of these [AI] applications,” Ikhlaq Sidhu, dean of the IE University’s School of Science and Technology, told CNBC.
The level of support for the use of AI in public service tasks, such as traffic optimization, was even higher, according to the report, coming in at 79%.
However, when it comes to sensitive matters, like parole decisions, most Europeans (64%) oppose the use of AI.
AI manipulation of elections
Despite support for AI in public administration and security matters, people appear to be much more concerned about its role in the democratic process.
IE University’s report found that the vast majority of Europeans (67%) fear AI manipulation in elections.
AI can be used as an amplifier of misinformation, with some users deliberately trying to use false information to subvert the opinions of others. A key concern is that so-called deepfakes, synthetic images, videos or audio clips created using AI could be used to misrepresent politicians’ views or spread other kinds of misinformation.
Generative AI platforms, such as OpenAI’s Dall-E and Stability AI’s Midjourney, can be used to create images with just a few lines of text prompts, for example. CNBC has reached out to OpenAI and Stability for comment.
“AI and deep fakes are the latest examples of a trend of misinformation and loss of verifiability,” Sidhu told CNBC. “This trend has been growing since the beginning of the Internet, social media, and AI-driven search algorithms.”
Indeed, some 31% of Europeans think that AI has already influenced their voting decisions, according to the report. It comes as the 2024 U.S. election is fast approaching, with current Vice President Kamala Harris running against former President Donald Trump in the vote set for Nov. 5.
Generational divide
IE University’s report also found a generational AI divide in Europe.
Roughly a third (34%) of people aged between 18 and 34 would trust an AI-powered app to vote for politicians on their behalf. This figure falls to 29% for people aged 35 to 44, and just 9% for individuals aged 65 and over.
Dina Powell McCormick, who was a member of President Donald Trump’s first administration, has resigned from Meta’s board of directors.
Powell McCormick, who previously spent 16 years working at Goldman Sachs, notified Meta of her resignation on Friday, according to a filing with the SEC. The filing did not disclose why McCormick was stepping down from Meta’s board, but said her resignation was effective immediately.
Meta does not plan on replacing her board role, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be named due to confidentiality. Powell McCormick is considering a potential strategic advisory role with Meta, but nothing has been decided, the person said.
Powell McCormick joined Meta’s board in April along with Stripe co-founder and CEO Patrick Collison. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement at the time that the two executives “bring a lot of experience supporting businesses and entrepreneurs to our board.”
Powell McCormick served as a deputy national security advisor to President Trump during his first stint in office and was also an assistant secretary of state during President George W. Bush’s administration.
She is married to Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa, who took office in January.
Powell McCormick is the vice chair, president and head of global client services at BDT & MSD Partners, which formed in 2023 after the merchant bank BDT combined with Michael Dell’s investment firm MSD.
With her departure, Meta now has 14 board members, including UFC CEO Dana White, Broadcom CEO Hock Tan and former Enron executive John Arnold.
Elon Musk‘s 2018 CEO pay package from Tesla, worth some $56 billion when it vested, must be restored, the Delaware Supreme Court ruled Friday.
“We reverse the Court of Chancery’s rescission remedy and award $1 in nominal damages,” the judges wrote in their opinion.
In the decision, the Delaware Supreme Court judges said a lower court’s decision to cancel Musk’s 2018 pay plan was too extreme a remedy and that the lower court did not give Tesla a chance to say what a fair compensation ought to be.
The decision on the appeal in this case, known as Tornetta v. Musk, likely ends the yearslong fight over Musk’s record-setting compensation.
Musk’s net worth is currently estimated at around $679.4 billion, according to the Forbes Real Time Billionaires List.
Dorothy Lund, a professor at Columbia Law School, told CNBC that while the Friday opinion may restore the 2018 pay plan for Musk, it leaves the rest of the lower court’s decision unaddressed and intact.
“The court had previously decided that Musk was a controlling shareholder of Tesla and that the Tesla board and he arranged an unfair pay plan for him,” she said. “None of that was reversed in this decision.”
“We are proud to have participated in the historic verdict below, calling to account the Tesla board and its largest stockholder for their breaches of fiduciary duty,” lawyers representing plaintiff Richard J. Tornetta said in an e-mailed statement.
Tesla did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Delaware Supreme Court issued the order per curiam with no single judge taking credit for writing the opinion and no dissent noted.
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Musk’s 2018 CEO pay package from Tesla, comprised of 12 milestone-based tranches of stock, was unprecedented at the time it was proposed. After it was granted, the pay plan made Musk the wealthiest individual in the world.
Tesla shareholder Tornetta sued Tesla, filing a derivative action in 2018, accusing Musk and the company’s board of a breach of their fiduciary duties.
Delaware’s business-specialized Court of Chancery decided in January 2024 that the pay plan was improperly granted and ordered it to be rescinded.
In her decision, Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick also found that Musk “controlled Tesla,” and that the process leading to the board’s approval of his 2018 pay plan was “deeply flawed.”
Among other things, she found the Tesla board did not disclose all the material information they should have to investors before asking them to vote on and approve the plan.
After the earlier Tornetta ruling, Musk moved Tesla’s site of incorporation out of Delaware, bashed McCormick by name in posts on his social network X, formerly Twitter, where he has tens of millions of followers, and called for other entrepreneurs to reincorporate outside of the state.
Tesla also attempted to “ratify” the 2018 CEO pay plan by holding a second vote with shareholders in 2024.
In November, Tesla shareholders voted to approve an even larger CEO compensation plan for Musk.
The 2025 pay plan consists of 12 tranches of shares to be granted to the CEO if Tesla hits certain milestones over the next decade and is worth about $1 trillion in total. The new plan could also increase Musk’s voting power over the company from around 13% today to around 25%.
Shareholders had also approved a plan to replace Musk’s 2018 CEO pay if the Tornetta decision was upheld on appeal. That plan is now nullified.
As CNBC previously reported, a law firm that currently represents Tesla in this appeal penned a bill to overhaul corporate law in Delaware earlier this year. The bill was passed by the Delaware legislature in March, and if it had applied retroactively, it could have affected the outcome of this case.
Every weekday, the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer holds a “Morning Meeting” livestream at 10:20 a.m. ET. Here’s a recap of Friday’s key moments. 1. Stocks were higher Friday, led by a rebound in Big Tech as the AI trade attempted to regain momentum. Nvidia stock jumped nearly 3% after Bernstein noted it is trading at 25 times forward earnings, landing it in the eleventh percentile of valuation over the past decade. That’s cheap for the AI chip leader. Market strength carried across the semiconductor group, with Broadcom , AMD , and Micron all charging higher. A stock that did not participate in the rally was Nike . Shares of the sneaker and sportswear maker are down 9.5% a day after it reported solid earnings results but disappointing guidance. 2. Jim also highlighted the standout year for Wells Fargo under CEO Charlie Scharf. “Don’t bet against Charlie,” he said after The Wall Street Journal reported late Thursday that the bank climbed to No. 7 in the U.S. M & A league table, compared to No. 14 last year. The bank advised on high-profile deals, including Netflix ‘s bid for Warner Brothers and Union Pacific ‘s bid for Norfolk Southern . Financial stocks have been on a tear this year, prompting us on Friday to trim our position in Capital One and lock in significant gains. On Thursday, we increased the price target for Capital One to $270 from $250 and downgraded our rating to a 2. In addition, we increased Goldman Sachs ‘ price target to $925 from $850 and Wells Fargo’s price target to $96 from $90. 3. Boeing shares climbed 2.6% on Friday after JPMorgan reiterated the stock as a top pick while increasing its price target to $245 from $240, implying a 15% upside from its current price of $213 per share. Analysts argue the aerospace manufacturer’s path to growth is simple: build more planes and deliver them. While cash flow expectations have come down, JPMorgan believes there’s visibility to at least $10 billion by the end of the decade. Jim said he likes Friday’s stock price for a buy. He called Boeing a “long-term idea” given the strength in travel. 4. Stocks covered in Friday’s rapid fire at the end of the video were: FedEx , Conagra Brands , KB Home , Oracle , and CoreWeave . (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long NVDA, AVGO, WFC, GS, COF, BA. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.